Method of guiding piercing instruments

ABSTRACT

Magnetic bars are used to guide knives or other piercing instruments in machines, such as meat tenderizers, where the piercing instruments are repeatedly thrust deeply into a body and then withdrawn. Thus, the instruments are firmly, but yieldingly, guided to maintain the desired alignment and spacing and minimize bending and breaking thereof.

United States Patent Jaccard [4 1 Mar. 28, 1972 [54] METHOD OF GUIDINGPIERCING [56] References Cited INSTRUMENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS [721Invent Buffah' NY 2 293 094 8/1942 Abbott ..17/25 73 Assignee: JaccardCorporation i County N.Y 3,283,360 1 l/l966 Tamain 1 7/25 [22] Filed:Aug. 13, 1970 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 2 A N 3 473 1,198,4706/1959 France ..l7/25 1 pp 0 572,133 1/1958 ltaiy ..17/2s Related US.Application Data Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager [63]Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 776,851, Oct. 31, A -A 1 1 F, Ha -l b,

1968, Pat. No. 3,583,025.

' ABSTRACT [52] U.S.Ci. ..17/45, 17/25, 146/150 R, Magnefic bars areused to guide knives or other piercing 146/160 struments in machines,such as meat tenderizers, where the [51] Int. Cl ..A22c 7/00 Piercinginstruments are repeated), thrust deep, into a body [58] Field oiSearch..l7/25,45; 146/150 R, 160 and then withdrawn, Thus, the instruments arefirmly but yieidingly, guided to maintain the desired alignment andspacing and minimize bending and breaking thereof.

5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures METHOD OF GUIDING PIERCIN G INSTRUMENTSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is in part a continuationof US. Pat. application Ser. No. 776,851, filed Oct. 31, 1968 now U.S.Pat. No. 3,583,025, issued June 8, 1971.

The present invention relates to a process for guiding piercinginstruments.

In piercing machines wherein a plurality of piercing instruments arerepeatedly thrust deeply into a body and then withdrawn, it is desirableto maintain the instruments in aligned and properly spaced positionduring use. An example of such a machine is the meat tenderizerdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,360. In the machine referred to aplurality of long, thin, knife blades are forced repeatedly into a cutof meat, thus making a large number of incisions and severing the toughconnective tissue in the meat at many places, thereby making the meattender. Because of their length and relative thinness, however, bendingand sometimes breaking of the knives occurs and some difficulty isencountered in keeping the knives satisfactorily aligned and spaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method forguiding piercing instruments and preventing bending thereof whichcomprises employing means on opposite sides of the instruments urgedtogether by magnetic attraction. Thus, the guiding is firm, thoughyielding, and there is no excess clearance between the instruments andthe guide means, thus minimizing bending and breaking. In addition,there is provided a safety factor, in that should one of the instrumentsbreak for any reason, the magnetic guide structure will tend to attractand hold the broken piece or pieces of the instrument and therebyprevent its or their remaining in the body which is penetrated.

Although there are a number of processes in which piercing instrumentsare employed in the manner described above, a good example is themechanical tenderizing of meat. There have been disclosed a variety ofmachines intended for this purpose and in many of them long, slender,piercing instruments are used. The present novel process is usable withsuch machines and also machines using such instruments for otherpurposes.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front view,partly in section, of a meat tenderizing machine such as is describedand shown in the above-mentioned patent;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, enlarged, sectional view on the plane of line22 of FIG. I showing the knife blades engaged in the guide grill;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1 showing the knives inextended position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of a unit of the novel knife guidestructure, the magnetic guide bars being shown spaced as they appearwhen knives are located therebetween;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of a guide bar takenon the plane of line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are cross-sectional views of piercing tools ofmodified shape.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As indicated above the presentmethod is particularly suitable for use with meat tenderizing machinessuch as that disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. patent. It should'beunderstood that the meat tenderizing machine shown in part in FIGS. 1and 3 is for illustrative purposes essentially the same as the machineshown and described in the said patent. Reference to that patent may bemade for details of construction not disclosed or shown herein.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a portion of a meat tenderizing machine withwhich the invention of the present application is adapted for use. Themachine has a chassis or frame 10 including legs 12 whereby it may bemounted on a table, bench, counter, or other suitable support. On theupper portion of the frame 10 there is provided a platform 14 havingdepending guide portions 16 which slidably receive the sleeves 18 thatsurrounded the spaced rods 20. The rods 20 are secured at their lowerends, by nuts 22, to a cross bar 24 and are attached at their upper endsto a cross frame member (not shown). The latter is movable upwardly anddownwardly along with the rods 20 and the cross bar 24 by means,partially shown and designated 26, actuated by the lever 28. The means26 includes a rotatable shaft 30 mounted in bearings 32 provided in theframe -10 and additionally supported by a bearing 34 suspended by ahanger 36 from the platform 14.

Above the platform 14 the rods 20 are encircled by compression springs(not shown) which are enclosed by telescoping tubes 38. The springs bearat their lower ends on the platform 14 and support on their upper ends afloating cross member 40 that removably carries a bank 42 of multibladeknives 44. The blades of the knives 44 are held in proper position andguided by means hereinafter described carried by the stripper plate 46.The plate 46 is attached to vertically movable rods 48 which extendthrough the floating cross member 40 and are suitably connected to asupport (not shown) which permits the plate 46 to hang from the crossmember 40. The plate and cross member are, however, adapted and arrangedfor vertical movement independently of one another.

A cutting board or table 50 is removably carried by the platform 14, asby the cooperating tongues 52 and grooves 54.

The board 50 supports the meat during its subjection to the tenderizingoperation. Accordingly, it is preferably soft enough not to shatter aknife blade which may accidently en gage it and it should be easilyreplaceable when it becomes worn or otherwise unsanitary.

Referring to FIG. 2, the bank 42 of knives 44 is removably secured tothe floating cross member 40 by a clamp 56 which may be tightened bythumbscrews 58. As shown, the base or top portion 64 of each knife 44 isformed with a dovetail, indicated at 60, at each corner. These dovetailsengage, respectively, in complementary notches in the cross member 40and the clamp 56. The knives are aligned and held together in spacedrelation in the knife bank 42 by a removable pin or rod 62 which passesthrough the base 64 of each of the knives and through spacer blocks 66(see FIG. I) inserted between the bases. Depending from the base 64 ofeach knife 44 are a plurality of regularly spaced blades 68, preferablysharpened on both their edges and points. The lower ends of the blades68 are guided and maintained in spaced position by a grillcomprehensively designated 70.

The grill 70 is removably carried by the stripper plate 46 which-whenthe machine is in use rests on the meat cut to be tenderized. Itcomprises a plurality of parallel guide bars 72 arranged (see FIG. 4) inside by side relation and held at one end by rounded projections 74 onthe bars in a carrier 76 having a laterally and upwardly projectinghandle 78. The plate 46 is provided with a longitudinally extending hole80 for passage of the knife blades 68, and the hole is provided withlongitudinally extending, inwardly directed shoulders 82 and 84 on whichthe carrier 76 and the free ends of the guide bars 72 carried thereby,respectively, rest. A thumbscrew 86 holds the carrier 76 againstdisplacement from the plate 46, a notch 88 (see FIG. 4) being providedin the edge of the carrier for convenient disengagement of the carrierfrom the thumbscrew. A retainer plate 90 secured to the stripper plate46 adjacent the free ends of the bars 72 by a thumbscrew 92 is protratedin FIG. 5 with the plane of polarization running longitudinally of thebars 72 so that the top of each bar constitutes the other pole isusually preferred. As shown in FIG. 5, the poles as indicated by theletters N and S are reversed in alternate bars, thereby causing the barsto be held together by magnetic force. This results in maintaining theblades 68 of each knife 44 straight and aligned, since the bars oneither side thereof are pulled together, and maintaining the properspacing between the blades of adjacent knives. Further, in the eventthat one of the blades 68 is accidently broken, for example, by strikinga bone in the meat, the magnetic attraction of the bars 72 and theknives will tend to pull the broken piece from the meat and hold it,thus preventing danger to the consumer. Although the guide bars 72 maybe made of various hard, wear-resistant magnetic materials such asiron-nickelaluminum-cobalt alloys, steel is satisfactory. Lubrication atthe areas of contact between the blades 68 and the bars 72 is providedby the meat juices and fat. It is to be noted that in FIG. 4 the bars 72are shown in the spaced position they assume when blades 68 are insertedbetween them. While in general the magnetic poles will be reversed inalternate bars, for convenience in installing or removing groups of barsthe adjacent end bars of each group may be so magnetized that there isno mutual attraction.

Although the operation of the meat tenderizing apparatus illustratedherein is fully disclosed in the above-mentioned patent, it may bepointed out that a cut of meat 96 placed on the cutting table 50 isrepeatedly pierced by the blades 68 of knives 44 which are moveddownwardly through the grill 70 by means (not shown) acting on the crossmember 40 from which the knives depend. The platform 14 carrying thetable 50 is moved upwardly by means 26 actuated by lever 28 to bring thecut of meat into contact with the stripper plate 46. Thus the meat isheld firmly while the blades 68 are withdrawn. As explained above, theguide bars '72 of the grill maintain the blades aligned and in properlyspaced position for entry into the meat, the latter being shifted fromtime to time as operation proceeds whereby to make a plurality ofincisions with the blades in different portions of the meat. Themagnetic attraction between the bars of the grill hold the blades inposition with a firm but yielding force thus preventing the breakage ofbent blades which might occur if the guide bars were fixed or rigidlyheld.

it will be understood that the usefulness of the present invention isnot limited to meat tenderizing apparatus constructed and operated asabove described. In fact, the novel magnetic guide bars of the presentinvention can be used not only with long, thin, flat blades of the typeillustrated in the above-mentioned patent, but also with piercinginstruments or blades which are relatively long with respect to theirthickness or diameter and which have cross sections off various shapes.For example, as shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the instruments may be ovalor round, i.e., curved, in cross section or may be round and/or oval inpart and flattened in part. Further, magnetized guide bars forming -agrill may be used as guides and separators for piercing instruments usedin any type of mechanical meat tenderizer or for other purposes. Also,of course, difl'erent, suitable mounting arrangements may be providedfor the bars if desired or necessary. Thus, although the carrier 76,shown and described above, is relatively short so that a plurality ofthem are used in providing a grill for a long bank of knives, a single,longer carrier could be employed. On the other hand, shorter carriersmay be used when only a few piercing instruments or a single one isemployed.

It will be further understood that the effectiveness of the method ofthe present invention does not depend on the magnetic character of thepenetrating instruments since the magnetic guide bars will be mutuallyattracted to provide guidance regardless of the material of which theinstruments are formed.

1 claim:

1. A method for preventing the bending of a piercing instrument that isrelatively long with respect to its thickness or diameter whichcomprises guiding said instrument firmly but yieldingly by means urgedtogether by magnetic attraction.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 inwhich a plurality of piercinginstruments are guided.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which a plurality of magnetizedguide bars are employed, one on each-side of said instrument, said barsbeing oppositely magnetized, whereby said bars are mutually attractedand press against said instru ment.

4. A method as set forth in claim 2 in which a plurality of magnetizedguide bars are employed, said instruments and said bars beingalternated, and alternate ones of said bars are oppositely magnetized.

5. A method as set forth in claim 3 in which said instruments and saidbars are alternated and alternate ones of said bars are oppositelymagnetized.

1. A method for preventing the bending of a piercing instrument that isrelatively long with respect to its thickness or diameter whichcomprises guiding said instrument firmly but yieldingly by means urgedtogether by magnetic attraction.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 inwhich a plurality of piercing instruments are guided.
 3. A method as setforth in claim 1 in which a plurality of magnetized guide bars areemployed, one on each side of said instrument, said bars beingoppositely magnetized, whereby said bars are mutually attracted andpress against said instrument.
 4. A method as set forth in claim 2 inwhich a plurality of magnetized guide bars are employed, saidinstruments and said bars being alternated, and alternate ones of saidbars are oppositely magnetized.
 5. A method as set forth in claim 3 inwhich said instruments and said bars are alternated and alternate onesof said bars are oppositely magnetized.